Couple of days ago, I went to Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) with a good friend of mine to watch ‘Single Man‘. The movie itself is really worth watching for everyone except for homophobes. The cinematography is nicely done and the pace is perfect. I have watched many gay-themed movies and this movie is one of the best.

“A few times in my life I’ve had moments of absolute clarity, when for a few brief seconds the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think, and things seem so sharp and the world seems so fresh. I can never make these moments last. I cling to them, but like everything, they fade. I have lived my life on these moments. They pull me back to the present, and I realize that everything is exactly the way it was meant to be.”

It’s November 30, 1962. Native Brit George Falconer (Colin Firth), an English professor at a Los Angeles area college, is finding it difficult to cope with life. Jim (Matthew Goode), his personal partner of sixteen years, died in a car accident eight months earlier when he was visiting with family. Jim’s family were not going to tell George of the death or accident let alone allow him to attend the funeral. This day, George has decided to get his affairs in order before he will commit suicide that evening. As he routinely and fastidiously prepares for the suicide and post suicide, George reminisces about his life with Jim. But George spends this day with various people, who see a man sadder than usual and who affect his own thoughts about what he is going to do. Those people include Carlos (Jon Kortajarena), a Spanish immigrant/aspiring actor/gigolo recently arrived in Los Angeles; Charley (Julianne Moore), his best friend who he knew from England, she who is a drama queen of a woman who romantically desires her best friend despite his sexual orientation; and Kenny Potter (Nicholas Hoult), one of his students, who seems to be curious about his professor beyond English class. Written by Huggo (IMDB)

The movie itself has several nice thoughts. I won’t spoil the movie by revealing all the profound quotes but  I will relate it a bit with my life and the life of people around me.

George: It takes time in the morning for me to become George, time to adjust to what is expected of George and how he is to behave. By the time I have dressed and put the final layer of polish on the now slightly stiff but quite perfect George I know fully what part I’m suppose to play.

Aren’t we all? I wake up in the morning, turn off my alarm, look at my phone for emails, texts, and agenda. While looking at the screen of my BB, I could see the natural face of mine. I said to myself, ‘Hosea, another day! It is ablessing to start another day – but I wish I could really be of who I truly am. In this complex world, I realize that I cannot just behave and be who I am. There are traditions, expectations, and role that we have to play. Limited freedom – that’s what my civics teacher always told me when I was in high school.

Overall: 8.5/10

“If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.”

(CS Lewis, 1898-1963)

Illustration from: http://theendofspeech.tumblr.com/

Cold makes me bed-resting for the past couple of days. The only thing that keeps excited after feeling unproductive is reading with some music. Being raised as Charismatic Christian, I am used to listening to contemporary Christian music. Yesterday, while I am updating my iPod, I found ‘Potter’s Hand’, a song by Darlene Zschech, Hillsong Church. It is my favourite from the old times. The song is inspired by Isaiah 64:8 ‘Yet, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are the work of Your hand.’ (AB)

If you see the clip above you will see the process of pottery. Pottery is an ancient technology – yet – very complicated. From the video and Wikipedia, I note several steps required to have a good earthenware.

1. To start, we need the right amount of clay, not too much, not too little – to do this, the potter will add or take away some clay;
2. Put the clay on the wheel and while doing so, some ‘stomping’ is required to make the clay sticks to the wheel;
3. Moulding: the potter will use his hands to shape the clay into a simple while the wheel provides the spinning (throwing force) so the clay can have the cylinder form. The wheel is supposed to have a constant speed and again, not too fast and not too slow;
4. While moulding, a potter will add and take a bit away from the earthen-ware-to-be. Extra tools might be needed to create a nice base
5. After moulding, the last step is to harden the clay vessel by cooking it in high temperature.

I, personally, have no idea how humans can come up with this technology but I am more amazed how the Bible uses this technology as a metaphor. Think about it. It is a perfect metaphor for how a father raises and teaches his children in character building. A father needs to take away his children’s childishness and add more mature subjects (step 1). If necessary, some hard lessons (step 2). A good father will then slowly, bit by bit, direct his children to what he thinks best for his children. The father will guide his children’s life to make sure they are not too fast and not too slow in developing their character (step 3). Then, his children in will have some success and failures which will add and take away some of their pride and selfishness – if necessary, a father will add extra lessons and use sticks to give reminders for the stubborn ones (step 4). Finally, a father will see their children tested on fire of life. Good clay hardens well in high temperature of stress and frustrations (step 5). As clay made to useful earthenware, his father as the potter, wants his children be useful in this world – like earthenware to serve others.

We need a good potter for our life. Christians believes that God is their Potter. No matter what you belief or religion is, or even if you are an atheist, we need to ask a question to each and every one of us.

‘Who or what is my potter?’

Is it my obsession to success that shapes my life? Is it my addiction to drugs? Is it my jealousy? Is it my family? It could be hundreds other things that shape our life, but should I another potter to re-shape me? Has my potter shape me well? The song ‘Potter’s Hand’ invites us to contemplate about our life and how we make us of it.

Image from: http://www.pottersplacepottery.com/NewImages/Slideshow.jpg

I would like to wish you all a prosperous and successful tiger year ahead!